In God We Trust
by Koshka
Summary: A bulimic/anorexic angel? God never rushes things... (Note: Part of the Epilogue was "set in place" by a friend, I was given the okay to add another angel...)


## In God We Trust

Andrew smiled to himself as he approached the sprawling building in front of him. He paused for a brief moment, almost looking upward. 'Thank you, Father! These are the kinds of assignments I enjoy!' 

When the warmth of God's love touched his heart and soul suddenly, he couldn't help but smile. His assignment would surely find being in the presence of God as enjoyable as Andrew did. But there was time yet, time to get acquainted with this soul so beloved by the Creator. 

"That's not your only assignment here, Baby." Tess said, causing Andrew to pause in his tracks. "Let's take a walk." she nodded off to her right where a few more steps would take them around the nursing home. 

"You already know about Esther D'Adrei Eastland." 

"She's a sweet woman." Monica said, joining her two angel friends on their walk. "She's got quite a sense of humor. She'll really keep you on your toes, Andrew." 

Tess rolled her eyes, but continued on, both with their walk, and informing her two young Angel Babies about what God wanted them here for. 

"There's also Ruth Anderson, Esther's granddaughter. Andrew, you'll be working closely with Ruth, a security officer at the mall across town, as well as getting to know Esther." Tess paused for a moment as she took the last step up the rather steep wooden foot bridge arching over a constructed stream. "Then there's Jennessa Anderson, Ruth's daughter and Esther's great granddaughter." 

"Where will we find her, Tess?" Monica asked. 

"At the mall." She didn't sound to pleased with that fact. "Andrew, you'll also be having more contact with Miss Jennessa than you'd know what to do with. Jennessa's a rebellious teenager, and because her mother's a security officer at the favorite teen gathering place," Tess ignored Andrew's I-don't-want-to-interrupt look, "she likes to try to get away with anything she gets into that cunning head of hers." she finished, frowning. Surrendering, she turned back to her angel charges. "What is it, Angel Boy?" 

"I believe the term is teen hang-out." Andrew said. 

"Actually, that term's about 30 years old." 

Monica and Andrew turned to see who'd approached behind them. 

"Babies, this is Kathleen." 

'Kathleen??!' Monica thought, a thought that went straight to Heaven, and back again. 

Kathleen stepped patiently towards the other three angels, her long, curly blond hair bouncing slightly. "I'm not the same being as the Kathleen you knew." she told Monica, placing a hand lightly on the auburn haired angel's shoulder, and smiling reassuringly. 

Monica felt the familiar warmth of God's love pass from Kathleen to her, and the relaxing peace that came with it. 

"You were wondering about Esther's daughter, Ruth's mother." Kathleen said. 

"Yes. What about her, Tess?" Monica asked. 

"She died 15 years ago saving her baby granddaughter, Jennessa Anderson, from a house fire. She died of smoke inhalation and 3rd degree burns all over her body. The firemen pulled Andrea out of the building, but she wouldn't leave without Jennessa, and went back in." Andrew said. "I was barely able to free the baby from her grandmother's arms, otherwise Jennessa would have suffocated there. Just before we went Home, Andrea wrapped Jennessa in a moist blanket, cooling the baby's burns, and placed her on a gurney where the EMT's found her a couple minutes later." 

"Is Jennessa scarred from the fire?" 

"No, Angel Baby." Tess said, "Several surgeries have taken care of any scars, the physical ones anyway. Her mother's love and prayers have helped her heal, too, but it's that mother's love that Jennessa's rebelling against, Babies. She feels like she's being smothered by her mother's rules and restrictions. But it's those rules and restrictions that are going to save this family." Tess waived off Monica's next question, and continued on. "Ruth is about to give up on any hope of keeping Jennessa out of prison, or worse. She's going to need a mother's guidance, too, and she doesn't have much longer to get that guidance from the one person that's the closest thing she has to a mother." 

"Tess, what are Kathleen and I doing here? Are we here to help those unseen wounds of Jennessa's heal?" Monica asked almost in a whisper. 

"Not just Jennessa's, Babies, but Ruth's and Esther's as well. And Andrew's going to need all the help he can get!" 

"Well, Monica," the receptionist said, tapping the edge of the papers against the desk to make sure they were all straight with each other, "everything checked out fine. The Chief will have your badge and uniform. Just go right through there." 

"Here?" Monica asked. 

The receptionist nodded, tapping the papers against the desk again, and keeping an eye on Monica. 

Monica opened the door and stepped through. 

"Monica, I'm glad you made it. Your uniform's hanging right there on the coat rack, and here's your badge and locker information. The lady's changing room is right over there." 

"Thank you, Sir." 

"Don't mention it. I'll have your assigned partner when you come out." 

Monica nodded to herself, and grabbed her uniform, hanger and all, off the coat rack as she headed to the locker room, bumping into Andrew on the way out of the men's locker room. 

"Andrew!" 

"I see you two know each other. That's good. You can be partners." 

Andrew looked at Monica with an I-was-suppose-to-be-assigned-to-someone-else look, but didn't say anything. 

"It's not a tough job, I'm sure you can handle it. Right, Andrew?" 

"No problem, Sir." he said, moving out of Monica's way as he whispered to her: "If your locker room's as small as mine, it's going to be crowded in there." 

"Excuse me." she returned, squeezing past him, feeling in a bit of a hurry. 

It was their second time around the mall, keeping an eye on what was going on, or trying to. Andrew found himself more often than not restraining smiles brought on by Monica's continual distraction from their assignment. Yet, he knew that she'd be entirely focused on their assignment when necessary. 

"How do you know you're God's favorite Angel?" she asked him on another round around the mall.. 

Andrew paused only slightly, checking his internal clock, just as several teenagers came into the mall through one of the main entrances across the way from where he and Monica were at this moment. School had let out not to long ago. 

"God doesn't have favorites." he replied, nodding to a merchant who'd also seen the teens enter the mall. 

"I'd hope I'd be one of His favorites." the merchant said, and returned to work. 

They'd rounded the end of the main hall before Monica answered her own question. "You know you're God's favorite Angel when He gives you challenging assignments." she commented aside to him before they entered the food court. 

"Speaking of challenging...." 

Their gazes immediately fell to the person who'd spoken, then followed her gaze to the young lady stuffing someone else's wallet into her backpack. 

"That is my daughter Jennessa." 

Both angels noted the girl's rounded stomach. 

'She's pregnant!' 

Andrew ignored Monica's surprised mental exclamation, which only another Angel and God could hear, and followed his fellow mall security officer. 

Ruth Anderson grabbed her daughter firmly by the arm while removing the stolen wallet from her daughter's backpack. "See that this gets returned to the rightful owner, would you, Andrew?" she asked, handing him the wallet as she hauled her daughter off to the security offices. 

Monica watched them go. 

"Mr. Taylor?" Andrew asked, and returned the wallet to the baffled man. 

Once again, Andrew appeared in the vicinity of the nursing home. This time, it was on the footbridge where Tess had told him more about his assignment here in this town of 40,000 plus populace. No sooner had he appeared there, than he rested his hands on the railing which was not much higher than his waist, and looked out over the stream as it disappeared around a corner in the distance. 

"What are you worrying about, Angel Boy?" Tess asked, looking up at her Angel Baby from the foot of the bridge. 

Andrew straightened up, turning to her, and couldn't help smiling. Tess had that effect on men and Angels alike. 

Tess held up a hand to silence him as he came down to stand beside her. "You're worrying that you're going to have to take Esther Home, followed by Jennessa, and Ruth. Well, stop worrying, Angel Boy. God knows what's happening here, and what's going to happen here. Furthermore, Jennessa is Monica's assignment. That Baby doesn't look before she leaps. And I'm not talking about Miss Wings, though, Heaven help us, this might be just the assignment our Angel Girl needs!" Tess exclaimed, trying to be patient, even as she raised her gaze Heavenward. "I'm talking about Jennessa. She didn't look before she leaped into what caused this situation of hers. She won't even know who the father of this baby is until it's born." 

Andrew's expression was one of puzzlement. "If Jennessa's Monica's assignment, why are you telling me this?" 

"Because, Baby, you may not need to take Ruth and Jennessa Home, but, unless we can get to that girl before it's to late, you may be taking her baby Home." 

"Baby..." Andrew said. Momentarily, his voice distant and his gaze drawn past Tess, he was looking at something God wanted him to see. Returning, somewhat, to the present, and briefly meeting Tess' eyes, if somewhat vaguely, he said "I have to go, Tess." 

He appeared scarcely a moment later in a hospital room, the form of a small girl lying motionless in the hospital bed, connected to all kinds of tubes and monitoring systems, one of which was life support. She couldn't be more than five years old. "Barry." he acknowledged the man sitting by the bed, holding the young child's hand. 

"I had to be here, Andrew. She's dying of the same thing I died of. My little granddaughter's brain is besieged with cancer." He swallowed the lump in his throat with difficulty. 

Andrew gently placed a hand on Barry's shoulder, squeezed it reassuringly. He looked up as family began to file into the room, and helped him away from the bedside. If his family could just see him, they wouldn't recognize him, he didn't appear of sufficient age to be this little girl's grandfather. 

"They're going to disconnect her from everything keeping her alive in a few minutes, Andrew." 

"I know." Andrew replied, hushed. 

Barry's expression changed, and he paused, as if in another place and time for a moment. "Take care of Aunt Esther, and Ruth, and Jennessa." 

"Angels are with them right now, Barry, even as I'm here, right this moment, with you and Sariah." 

It didn't seem like it was long enough before a nurse came in and, apologizing, told them that visiting hours were over. Andrew had been watching Sariah from his place by the window, and had his attention drawn away when Barry got up from the chair beside him. 

Barry searched his wife's face. She would be the perfect person. "Mary, Aunt Esther's family needs you. Go visit Aunt Esther, Mary." He saw her furrow her brow, and a small smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Mary. Go visit Aunt Esther." 

'...Aunt Esther...' Mary heard the faint whisper, and looked at where she thought it was coming from. No one was there, between herself and the window. 'Mary, go visit Aunt Esther!' 

Mary smiled at the puzzled expression of her daughter. "Just a feeling that I need to go visit Barry's Aunt Esther." she said with a shrug, and followed her daughter out of the room, muttering to herself: "Aunt Etti... What could it hurt?" 

"Sariah." 

Hearing his granddaughter's name, Barry returned his attention back to her, and Andrew sitting beside her bed. 

"My name's Andrew. I've come to take you Home, when it's your time." 

Sariah's eyelids flickered, and Andrew felt the quiet, sweet voice of her spirit touch him. 

"Soon, Sariah. Before morning." 

"Sariah? It's Grandpa. I know. You barely remember me. I held you the day before I died, and I promised you that I'd be here when it was your turn. I just didn't know it would be so soon." 

Sariah started coughing, and gagging on the material brought up by the chemotherapy. Andrew helped her sit up, to week to even open her eyes, and held the tray for her as the warmth of God's love surrounded him. 

"It's going to be soon, isn't it, Andrew?" 

"Very soon." he said. After the coughing stopped, he gently laid her back down in her bed. 

Barry took Sariah's hand in his. "Andrew, I wish she could go now. She's suffered so much already." He lovingly laid a hand on her bald head. "She had the curliest, darkest mop top you ever saw." His smile at the memory quickly disappeared as Sariah took a deep breath, and held it. 

"It's okay, Sariah. I'm here, and Andrew's here. He's the same one that took me Home when I died." 

She let out the breath, took another. 

"God loves you, Sariah. He loves you so much!" He felt a tear in his eye, but didn't bother to wipe it away. "It's time..." 

Sariah let out her last breath. She let her grandpa help her to her feet. "Guess I struck out, huh, Grandpa?" 

Andrew squatted down beside her, met her dark hazel eyes beneath her curly hair, which she kept pulling out of her eyes with her free hand. "You didn't strike out, Sariah. You hit a Home run." with that, he produced a baseball cap and tugged it down on her head, and took her hand. 

"The Angels are my favorite team, you know." 

"Mine, too." Andrew replied, standing up. He caught her under her arms and lifted her to his hip. 

"Come on, Grandpa!" she called back over Andrew's shoulder. 

He grinned and followed right behind them. 

Andrew frowned to himself as he walked towards the nursing home once again, hands stuffed in his pockets. Why had the Father wanted him to take Sariah Home? Certainly He could have assigned Adam to that task, or Carl, or Irene. Taking Sariah Home had just taken him away from his assignment here with Esther Eastland. 

There was that distant relationship. Barry, Sariah's grandfather, was a nephew to Esther. 'That would make Barry's daughter a 2nd cousin to Ruth...' he mused. 

Still puzzled, he shrugged it off as he opened the door to the GrandView Estates nursing home. 

'...and Sariah was a third cousin to Jennessa...' Andrew continued his musings, hardly having left them when his hand had touched the knob on the door. In fact, he was hardly aware that he now stood in the GrandView Estates lobby, lost in his thoughts. 

"Andrew. You look a wee bit lost." 

Andrew blinked and looked at Monica, who leaned closer to him, as if what she had to say was a secret. 

"You've come to see Esther, haven't you?" she said with a smile, and turned. "This way." 

"Ah, Monica. I see you've found your friend." Esther smiled conspiratorially at Monica. "And a good looking one, too, isn't he?" she said with a wink at Andrew. 

Andrew smiled, and, with a slight downward glance to look at all the open books that were on the table by which the 96 year old woman was sitting, he restrained the laugh that would surely burst out if he smiled any broader. 

"My name's Andrew." he said, looking back up at her, and approaching the table. "Are these family pictures?" he turned one of the books so he could see the portraits right side up. There, right in front of him, was a picture of Sariah, her sisters, brothers, and cousins on a family outing. In the far left of the picture was a group of teenagers, one of which was Jennessa Anderson. 

"That picture was taken about three months ago, at a family reunion of all the descendants of my father, Peter Anderson. That was a beautiful day." 

Monica leaned closer to Andrew to get a better look at the picture, particularly of Jennessa. 

"She was three months pregnant in that picture." Kathleen said, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear as she looked at the picture of Jennessa, dressed in the typical baggy clothes of a teenager. Of the three angels in the room, she remained out of sight of human eyes. "Her pregnancy was progressing normally at that point. You can just see it in the picture. She's six months pregnant now." 

"You'd never guess she's pregnant." Esther said, noticing the attention of Monica and Andrew directed to her great granddaughter. "She's three months along." she said, shaking her head, tut-tutting to herself. 

"Jennessa's six months along, and her baby might not make it full term." Kathleen responded, not wanting to tell her friends why Jennessa didn't look to be more than in the first trimester of her pregnancy. Hugging herself, she disappeared from the room. 

"There you are, Baby." 

Kathleen turned, still hugging herself, to see Tess approaching her. 

"Michaela was worrying about you, and so was I. Tell Tess what's bothering you." Tess said, putting a protective arm around the young Angel of Birth, and brushing the hair out of Kathleen's face with her other hand. 

"God makes his angels human for a time for a reason, doesn't He, Tess?" 

"That He does, Baby." 

"The memories are still to clear, Tess. Michaela sent me down here ahead of time to watch over Jennessa and her baby, and..." She shook off Tess's embrace, and moved away. "I'm not strong enough yet to handle this." she said, walking away, and disappearing a few steps later. 

"Oh, Baby!" Tess said to no one in particular, and yet, to Someone in particular. "You don't have to do this alone...you're not alone right now!" 

She looked up at the sound of a dove cooing, and saw it land on a branch an arms length away. She extended a hand to the dove, and it hopped into her hand, snuggling into her gentle grip. 

An angel wasn't suppose to feel prejudice. Yet, as she watched the larger sized woman eating her dinner, Kathleen couldn't help feeling the repulsion deep in her gut, her own dinner churning in her stomach. 

She swallowed to keep her lunch down, as well as the urge to run to the bathroom and help it come up. She looked up at the woman again, and the lady seemed to change before her eyes into that of a familiar form. 

This time, Kathleen did excuse herself, quickly leaving payment on the table as she hurried out of the diner. She'd run no more than a few blocks before she collapsed in a heap on the grass, unsure of where she was, sobs wracking her bony shoulders. 'Father! I need your help! Please help! Tell Tess I didn't mean it!' 

Another angel, walking barefoot in the park, quietly approached, and settled down beside the shaking woman. 

Kathleen looked up, drying tears. "M-monica." 

"Sh-h." Monica said, feeling God's love surround her. "Tess already knows what you're feeling, Kat. And she knows what your time as a human was like for you." She wiped a tear from her young angel friend's cheek. "...and she forgives you." She reached out to Kathleen again, tucking a blond curl behind an ear. "God forgives you, too, because He loves you. God will always love you, Kat." 

The glow that was around Monica surrounded Kathleen now, too, and Monica put her arm around the younger angel, pulling Kathleen's head down into her lap. She glanced heavenward as the first stars began twinkling above. 'Thank you, Father!' 

Kathleen stirred in her drowsiness, placing a hand against her rib cage. There was a little bit more than a thin layer of muscle there between bone and skin now, but just barely. She wished she could have had a baby while she'd been alive on the earth, but what she'd done to her body had destroyed any possibility of that. Then Andrew had come... 

"Monica?" she asked, murmuring through the sleepiness. "How could anyone do this to a baby?" 

Monica tucked another curl behind one of Kathleen's ears. 

"I don't know, Kat." She paused, then smiled. "I only know that Jennessa's baby will survive and one day be a beautifully healthy baby boy." 

Kat looked up, saw Monica's smile, and felt a smile curl one corner of her own mouth. 

"Tell me about your daughter Jennessa." Andrew said one day, just happening to cross paths with Ruth Anderson on the third floor of the mall. He caught sight of Monica on the second floor as she approached the young lady he was asking about. 

"That young lady is a handful!!" Ruth was saying. "So far, besides getting herself pregnant by God-only-knows-who, she's into petty larceny, and more criminal acts than I can count! Andrew, I know I barely know you, but somehow, I feel like I can trust you." She paused long enough to step onto the up escalator. 

Andrew followed right behind. 

"Andrew, I found a horde of twinkies, cupcakes, fruit pies, and every sweat treat you can name in her room last night." 

Andrew smiled, shrugging an incredulous shrug, saying: "What's the harm in that? Every teenager I know has a sweat tooth." 

They got off at the top of the escalator, and Ruth pulled Andrew aside. 

"The bottom drawer of her dresser was full of it, Andrew. That and tons of empty wrappers." 

"So?" Andrew said with a slight chuckle at the mother's concern. 

"One of those empty wrappers wasn't empty, Andrew. In it, I found three crack rocks." She paused, and, when Andrew had nothing to say, she continued as they went back to their rounds. 

"I didn't find a pipe or any other drug paraphernalia, so I don't think she's doing it, but I could arrest her on charges of possession. And all that junk food. Why does she need to horde all of that? She hates junk food. I don't know Andrew. I just don't know." 

Andrew let her get a few steps ahead, and looked over at Kathleen standing near a kiosk in the center of the corridor. 

She confirmed what he already knew with a slight nod of her head, then turned as Jennessa stepped off the escalator on the fourth floor. 

Mary searched for the main desk and finally found it. She approached the auburn haired woman behind the counter. "Hi, I'm here to see Aunt Etti." It'd come out so naturally, she hadn't noticed it until the nurse, Monica, according to the woman's name tag, questioned her. 

"Oh. I'm sorry. I'm looking for Esther Eastland." 

"Ah." Monica responded, and began looking in her files. 

"Excuse me. Did you say you're looking for Esther Eastland?" Ruth Anderson asked. Almost as soon as she'd asked, she saw and recognized the woman behind the counter. "Monica?" 

"Hello, Ruth." 

"Don't you ever take a break from work?" 

"Occasionally." she responded, with an ever-ready smile. 

"You're Ruth?" Mary asked, incredulous. "How long has it been?" She paused, and noticed Ruth's incomprehension. "I'm Mary Eastland. Well, it's Weizmann now." 

"Mary. It's got to be, what, 40 years?? How's Barry?" 

"Barry passed away two and a half years ago." 

"Oh. I'm sorry." 

"Well, I see you two know each other. If you two will excuse me..." Monica said, moving aside. 

"Grandma's room's this way." 

"How is Aunt Etti doing?" 

Andrew appeared beside Monica, and Tess leaned back against the counter. 

"So that's how the two families are related!" Andrew said, "I just couldn't figure that out for sure. Mary's Barry's wife, who is Ruth's first cousin once removed! It all makes sense now!" 

"Oh it does, does it, Angel Boy?" Tess said, with a surety all her own. "Then besides the Creator of the universe who's All-knowing, that makes one!" 

"Hello, Jennessa." Monica said, interrupting the exchange between the group of teenagers going on in a less active side outside the mall. 

Jennessa hurriedly stuffed something in her pockets before turning to the auburn haired security officer. 

"It's a beautiful day today, isn't it?" Monica asked. 

"Ya. Beautiful." Her friends quietly retreated from behind her. "Well. Guess I better be going home." she said, backing off. 

She'd just turned around and stuffed her hands in her pockets when Andrew, unseen to human eyes, appeared beside Monica. 

"She's got crack rocks in her pockets, Andrew." 

"Her mother's the one that needs to catch her red-handed." he said, one hand fiddling with the antique pocket watch in it's pocket. He sighed, all to aware of how much time was left. "I promised Esther a game of chess." 

He excused himself from Monica and disappeared, literally, around the curve of the sidewalk. 

Monica sat on the window bench seat, unseen to any other occupant of the room, human or angel. Jennessa wasn't her assignment, not directly. Her assignment was Kathleen. 

She watched Jennessa for a while, sitting cross-legged on the floor beside her dresser, stuffing junk food in her mouth with both hands. Her face and hands were a mess. 

Monica turned from Jennessa and looked at Kathleen standing near the door to the adjoining bathroom. The blond angel's face looked perhaps a bit thin, but the flowing white dress she wore hid the rest of her body, unmistakably to thin, lacking any body fat to speak of and having barely enough other tissue to keep her human form functioning. But she was getting better. 

Monica rose from the seat, passing Jennessa, who was wiping her face with her fingers, and licking them almost clean. 

"Hello, Kat." 

"Monica. How long have you been here?" 

"Long enough to see Jennessa binging." 

Jennessa had gotten up off the floor and gone to a full length mirror. There, she looked herself over, smoothing her clothes over her thin body, and looking at the roundness of her belly. 

"I use to do that." Kathleen said. "I'd binge, then I'd go look myself over. That was when I'd eat anything. A lot of times, I'd go a day or so without eating." 

At the mirror, Jennessa had removed her clothes, and was looking at herself, feeling the roundness there, and not liking how fat she looked. 

"How far along do you think she looks?" 

"3 1/2 months maybe." Monica guessed. 

"She's seven months and one week now." Kathleen responded. "School let out a little more than a month ago." 

Jennessa turned from the mirror, and Kathleen closed her eyes as the teenager rushed past her to purge what she'd just binged. Kathleen knew the feelings Jennessa was having. No matter how thin she really was, she always saw herself as fat, the binging, followed by the purging. Then the relief in the feeling of having nothing in your stomach. 

Monica put a hand on one of Kathleen's bony shoulders, noticing even the slightest bit of improvement there. "You're getting better, Kat. That's why God's assigned you to work with Jennessa. You've been where she is, and you can help her get better, too!" 

Kathleen shook her head. 

"If you can't do it for Jennessa, do it for yourself. Every time you purged, there was an angel there, holding your head so you wouldn't choke." 

A memory flashed into her mind. She saw herself in the same position as Jennessa was now, bent over the toilet, the sink tap running to hide the sound of what she was doing, and. . . the feeling of a hand against her forehead, holding her head, and one on her neck. 

Kathleen blinked, coming back from the memory. 

Monica had gone. 

'Father. . .' 

She took a breath, and went into the bathroom. The smell!! She started backing away. She wanted to get better and not slip back into it. . . 

She stopped before backing through the bathroom doorway, feeling God's love touch her to the core of her soul, and with courage to go in and do what she could. Hands shaking, she sat down on the edge of the tub. A subtle warmth crept into her hands, and caused the shaking to stop. 

Gently, she placed a hand on Jennessa's forehead, lifting slightly, and the other on the back of her neck. 

"God loves you." she whispered, even as the purging continued. "God loves you." A tear ran down her own cheek. 

'I love you, Kathleen.' 

Tess came into Esther Eastland's quarters in the GrandView Estates, dragging the dialysis machine with her. 

Esther looked up from the chess game as determined as ever. "No, Tess. No more dialysis." 

"You've got to do it sometime, Etti." Tess urged, no less determined. 

"I don't have to do it if I choose not to. Check-mate." 

"You're as sharp as ever, Esther." Andrew conceded. He didn't look up as Tess approached with the machine. 

"Take your machines out of here, Tess. I refuse to continue dialysis." She set up the chess board again, tuning out the nursing home's nurse. 

"Why would you refuse medical treatment that could keep you alive?" 

"I'm 96, Andrew, My kidneys are failing, I'm to old to be on any transplant list, and it's my life. Your move." 

Andrew moved a pawn forward. 

"Monica." 

She almost jumped at Carl's sudden appearance as she came out of the mall security offices located in a quieter section of the mall. 

Ruth Anderson exited the security offices shortly after Monica, and quickly took in the well-dressed man with her fellow security officer. 

"Ruth Anderson?" 

"Yes?" 

My name's Carl. I'm the doctor on staff here at the high school." 

"How can I help you?" 

"I'm here about your daughter Jennessa. I was wondering. . . Have you noticed any tendencies like a preference to wear baggy clothing, not wanting to wear close fitting clothing or shorts, sleeveless shirts, or similar fashions?" 

"Where is this leading, Doctor?" 

"Please stick with me. Perhaps she's had a tendency to skip meals, breakfast or dinner? Not just occasionally, but for a couple days?" 

"Doctor, I don't like where this is going." 

Carl held a hand up. "Does she isolate herself in a place of her own? Does she have a stash of junk food that you might have noticed? Has she ever left the water running for an unusually long time at various times of day?" 

"What are you suggesting?" She folded her arms in front of her and planted her feet. 

"Mrs Anderson, I believe your daughter might have bulimia and possibly anorexia nervosa." 

"I don't know what you're talking about! My daughter doesn't have bulimia or anor. . . anore. . . whatever!" She turned and marched off. 

Carl caught Monica looking at him. 

With almost a sigh, he said: "Time's very short." 

Once again, Ruth was feeling frustrated as she drove to visit her grandmother. When Jennessa had finally gotten home, she'd tried again to get her daughter to come visit grandma Esther, and again, Jennessa had refused. 

Ruth parked her car, grabbed the vase of flowers from the passenger seat and went in. 

Mary met Ruth down the hall from Esther's room. 

Ruth saw the look on Mary's face. . ."What is it, Mary?" 

"I talked to Tess." she paused, squeezing Ruth's hand in an almost motherly manner. "Aunt Etti's refused all dialysis treatments. Her kidneys are poisoning her." 

"Why would she do that?" 

"I don't know, Ruth." 

"Why. . ." 

"Her complexion's yellowing. . . Tess doesn't think she has much more than a few days." 

'My Grandmother. . .' Ruth thought, speechless. 

"I want to see her." 

Mary nodded, and moved to return to her Aunt Etti's room. 

Ruth Anderson had left GrandView Estates an hour or more ago. Seemed like she'd hardly gotten settled into the usual freeway routine when she'd glanced up the hill ahead of her and saw a beautiful building up on the hill that invited her to come and rest, and she'd gotten off the freeway to see if she could find it. She'd been walking the grounds or sitting in the shade of one of the many trees since then. Still, her mind wouldn't rest. 

She sat against the trunk of a large, old weeping willow, almost hidden in the branches, resting her forehead against her hands, her mind fretting over Grandma Etti, and Jennessa. 

The doctor had been right about some things. What was his name? There was that junk food in Jennessa's drawer, she did skip meals, and she didn't have anything close-cut. But that didn't mean. . . Andrew had said that all teenagers have a sweat tooth. And what teen didn't follow the fashions of the day? Baggy was the style. 

Jennessa was spending a lot of time in the bathroom, water running. 

'She's a teenager!!' Ruth called out in her mind, looking up at the branches overhead. 

Monica, remaining unseen, had been watching Ruth since she'd turned off the freeway, and she listened to what was troubling her. God wanted her to help Ruth. . . 

"Yes, Jennessa is a teenager, Ruth, but you've seen the truth! It's been there before your eyes all along!" 

Ruth put her head in her hands again. She was going to get a serious headache with all this worrying. 'Truth. . . seen. . .' Truth. 

The doctor was right. Jennessa did need help. Grandma Etti. . . 

"Am I going to loose both my grandmother and my daughter?!" she called, pleading, barely choking the words out. 

Monica walked quietly forward the few steps between her and Ruth; respecting the moment. God's love surrounded her the moment she stopped one pace away, visible now, but only for Ruth. 

"You may loose both, but it won't happen today." 

Ruth looked up, her face already tear streaked. "Monica?" 

"I am an angel, Ruth; sent by God, who loves you very, very much." 

Ruth pushed herself up, back still against the tree. "God sent me an angel?" 

"Not just you, but your grandmother, and your daughter. God loves them both, every bit as much as He loves you. You need to get Jennessa the help she needs soon. . ." 

Ruth gasped. 

"Your grandmother doesn't have much time, and Jennessa needs to be with her before that time comes." 

"When?" 

"I don't know, but soon." 

"You're an angel. How could you not know?" 

"I'm not God, but I am His angel." 

Ruth wiped her eyes, saying: "What should I do?" 

"Get Jennessa the help she needs, and soon." 

Ruth nodded, wiped her eyes one more time, and when she looked up, Monica was gone. 

"Are you ready, Baby?" 

Kathleen turned, and froze when she saw Tess. She knew what her body's reaction would be, had been, and she wanted to either run, or beg forgiveness. Automatically, a hand had flown to her stomach at the familiar grumbles there. 

Tess walked over to the young angel and took her hand. 

Gradually, the churning in Kathleen's stomach eased, and stopped. "Oh, Tess. . .!" 

Tess swept the teary angel into her embrace. "It's going to be okay, Baby." 

After a while, the tears began to subside, and Tess held Kathleen at arms length and caught her auburn eyes. "God loves you, Baby, and right now, He wants you to go and prepare Josh for birth." 

"But," Kathleen sniffed once more, "what about Jennessa?" 

"Carl will watch over her." Tess replied. 

Carl nodded to his two angel friends as Jennessa pushed herself back from a barely picked over dinner plate. 

"Excuse me." she told her mom. 

"You've barely touched your dinner." Ruth responded, glancing from the plate to her daughter. 

"I'm not really hungry." Jennessa said, already headed for the stairs to her room. 

Carl followed. 

"Monica said Josh will survive, but Tess, I've seen birth. An Angel of Birth needs to see souls through, and I know this is my first real assignment, but how could he possibly live, let alone survive birth?" 

"With God, all things are possible, Angel Girl." 

Upstairs, a faucet turned on, and Ruth pushed herself back from her own plate. Truth was, she wasn't really hungry either. She was worrying about Grandma Etti and Jennessa. She went upstairs and directly to Jennessa's room. She knocked on the door once, then went in. 

Quickly scanning the room, she headed to her daughter's bathroom, and there found Jennessa bent over the toilet, purging what little dinner she'd eaten. 

Carl looked up from holding Jennessa's head, grateful that Ruth hadn't yet spoken. 

As the teenager wiped her mouth, her mother found her voice. 

"Jennessa. . ." 

She looked up, caught in the act. 

Ruth sat in the main waiting area of the hospital, no more relaxed than she had been since she'd been preparing dinner. She was still shocked at how bony her daughter was when Jennessa had been dragged by her mother to the hospital to get help. 

Jennessa had fought, but weakly, and Ruth wondered how long it had been since she'd kept any food down long enough for her body to get any nourishment. 

"The baby has been taking any nourishment when it's been there to take." Monica said. 

Ruth looked up at the angel sitting beside her, to much in shock to be startled by Monica's sudden appearance. 

"Is it cold in here, Monica?" 

Monica shook out the blanket she was holding, and tucked it around the woman's shoulder. "Normally, the mother's body would starve the baby to nourish itself. God is keeping things in balance, Ruth. Let go and let God. Trust Him." 

"I'm trying, Monica, but I may loose both my daughter and my grandmother." 

There was a quiet cough. "Mrs Anderson." 

Both looked up to see a doctor with pale red hair put his hand back in the pocket of his lab coat. 

"How's my daughter?" 

Carl glanced at Monica. "She put up a fight, but we managed to sedate her and we've got her hooked up to an I. V. It won't be easy, Mrs Anderson. She tore the I. V. out before she was sufficiently sedated, and. . ." he took his hand out of the lab coat's pocket, "she has a good bite. She refuses to talk to anyone, but I'm hoping Kathleen will be able to help do some good here." 

Ruth refrained a gasp at the skinny, bony woman that approached. 

Kathleen settled into the chair next to the couch Ruth and Monica were sitting on. She barely took up half of it. 

"I'm a recovering Anorexic and Bulimic, Mrs Anderson. I'm also a nutritionist and behavior scientist here at the hospital. I've worked with Doctor Carl before." Memories of her own purging sessions flashed into her mind again, and this time, she not only remembered the feel of those hands, but she saw the angel to whom they belonged--Carl. There had been others, strong hands, and gentle hands. Andrew had been the doctor she'd fought off at the hospital. . . 

"Kathleen?" 

She blinked, coming back to the present. 

"The truth is, Mrs Anderson," she continued, "I need your daughter every bit as much as she need me. I've been where she is, and together, we can both heal." 

Everyone looked up as ambulance sirens screamed all the away to the emergency entrance just around the corner from the main entrance. 

Andrew walked in through the main entrance, glanced meaningfully at the group of three angels and their assignment, and turned the corner to the emergency room. 

Kat had seen something else in Andrew's eyes, but it remained just beyond reach, teasing her. She pushed it aside, knowing she had an assignment here, and Jennessa and Ruth needed her attention. 

She quietly pushed the door to Jennessa's hospital room open a bit more. She took note that her young assignment was still under sedation, all tubes in their proper places. Ruth sat in the chair, lost in thought as she watched her daughter. 

"Excuse me..." she whispered, pushing the door open a bit wider as she came into the room. "How's she doing?" 

"At least she's not tuning me out." Ruth said with a shrug. 

"That's a good thing." 

Monica knocked softly on the door. 

"Come on in, Monica. You look like you've just seen the angel of death." Ruth sat up, realizing what she'd just said, every muscle tense. 

Monica took a breath. No point in delaying now. "Your grandmother's been brought to the hospital. She's lost consciousness, and it's just a matter of time..." 

"Where is she?" 

"She's in intensive care." Monica responded, gesturing with her finger over a shoulder. 

Ruth hurried out of the room. 

Andrew knocked on the door frame of the room, near the nurse's station, that Esther Eastland had been moved to. 

Ruth continued to stare past her grandmother's bed, and out the window. 

Andrew closed his eyes a moment. He didn't need to be told, he could feel Ruth's prayers--it pleased the Father when His children talked with Him. He felt the sadness the Father felt, knowing Esther's time to return Home would be soon, and Ruth would be without her grandmother for the rest of her life. 

Andrew coughed quietly into his hand as he stepped into the room. 

"Andrew..." 

"How are you doing?" 

"I'm divided. My grandmother's dying of kidney failure, and my daughter's starving to death, both of their own free will. My grandmother could have lived another ten months or so if she'd remained on dialysis, Jennessa...this could've been prevented if only..." Choking off her words, she turned back to the window. "I don't know where to stand, Andrew." 

"Stand with God." 

She turned, and saw Andrew standing at the foot of her grandmother's bed, surrounded in light just as Monica had been. 

"You're...you're an angel..." 

"I was sent to be with your grandmother when it's her time to go Home, and to be with you." 

"Me?" 

"You're the one person in the middle of this family, Ruth. You need your grandmother a little longer, you need your daughter and your daughter need you and Grandma Etti, and Josh needs his Grandmother." 

"Josh?" 

"Jennessa is going to have a boy, and he'll need all the love he can get if he's going to survive." 

"I'm going to be a grandmother?" 

"Congratulations." a sleepy, weary voice came from the elderly woman in the bed. Etti's barely open eyes shifted from her granddaughter to Andrew. "Andrew. I knew you'd come." 

"Grandma, how are you feeling?" 

"Tired, very tired, Ruth. Remember, I'll always love you." 

Andrew sat down in the chair that Ruth had vacated when he'd come into the room. 

"Andrew?" Etti whispered, searching. 

"I'm here, Esther." 

She turned her head, finding him, and smiled. "So you came to finish the game, huh?" 

"The game's just begun, Etti. There's much more." 

Kathleen could still here the conversation she'd had with her supervisor, Michaela, when she'd returned to meet with Josh. 

'I know, I know. I just wanted to see how Jennessa was doing in the hospital, and Carl needed me to help with Ruth.' 

'Joshua has been waiting a long time, Kathleen, and time is drawing short.' 

Kathleen rounded a bend, and saw a handsome young man looking out at the earth rotating in space before him. 

"Josh." She stepped forward as he turned towards her. He looked so much like his mother and grandmother. 

"My name's Kathleen." 

He took the hand she extended. 

Monica, standing unseen by the sink in Esther's hospital room, had refrained from asking as long as she could. "Tess..." 

"It's her time, Baby. She will still be able to help Jennessa." Tess turned back to Andrew and the two humans. With a confidence all her own, though she didn't know the answer herself, she responded to the unasked question, "With God, all things are possible. Trust Him, Baby." 

"No." Ruth said, shaking her head briefly and turning back to the window. "Grandma can't go." 

Andrew, stunned, looked from Esther, to Ruth, then up at his two angel friends, questioning, brows furrowed. 

"Go, Baby." Tess urged Andrew, her own features reflecting the urgency as she nodded at Ruth. 

"Ruth..." Andrew said, stopping a couple paces away. His eyes reflected his understanding, her grandmother was dying, and her daughter was barely alive... "It's her time, Ruth. God has work for her to do, but it's not in this life." 

"Andrew, I can't...she's the only mother I have!" 

'Father, help!' he pled. He'd done what he could. Peace touched his soul, warming him. God's love for Ruth brought a smile to his face. "Let go and let God, Ruth." 

"What?" That was what Monica had said earlier. 

"Trust Him. He knows the burdens you carry, and He'll help you carry them if you'll only Trust Him!" he said, emphasizing his last two words. 

Ruth pushed past Andrew, gently touched her grandmother's cheek. She pushed back a strand of grey hair from her grandmother's forehead. 

"God loves you, Ruth. He'll help you heal." 

Ruth hugged herself tightly, then, after a moment, kissed her grandmother's forehead. She turned back to the window. 

Andrew turned his attention to Esther Eastland, taking her by the hand. 

A woman of noble bearing rose from the bed, and looped her arm through Andrew's. 

"God has work for me, Angel Boy?" 

Andrew smiled. The spunk of this woman! 

"Yes, He does." 

Esther Eastland paused in the hallway, on the edge of the Light. Her gaze was distant. 

A nurse ran past them into the room they'd just come out of. 

"Mrs Anderson?" 

Ruth turned from the window. "Yes?" she said, quickly wiping her eyes. 

"Jennessa's come out of sedation. She's fighting the doctors." The nurse left the room and was whispering to the nurse at the nurses station as Ruth hurried to the elevator. 

"Andrew..." 

He took her hand and the two disappeared. 

"No!" Jennessa's furious, guttural refusal was followed by more of the same as she writhed in the bed, shoving against the nurses holding down her legs, trying, unsuccessfully, to free an arm. 

"You can't make me stay here!" she snarled, and gave another yank against the doctor holding one of her arms down, and the arm came free, yanking out the I.V. in the process. 

In the next instant, with a victorious smile, Jennessa yanked at the feeding tube that went through her nose, down her throat, and into her stomach. She wasn't going to let them put food in her stomach, and gripped the tube tighter as the doctor tried to loosen her grip. 

"Jennessa! They're trying to help you!" Esther called. 

"She can't hear you." Andrew said, frowning. This was a struggle he'd seen before. 

Ruth rushed into the room, past Carl standing unseen by the doorway. He was here to take Jennessa Home. 

"Stand back!" the on-call doctor ordered. 

"I'm her mother!" 

A light appeared in the room, Andrew looked up and saw Kathleen, with her charge, coming from that Light, and, for a moment, the two angel's eyes met. In that moment, Kathleen saw the shadows in his eyes again, and this time, there were questions, and pain. In the space of that instant, he'd turned away, and she completed her step, now standing beside Jennessa's bed with Josh. Time seemed frozen. 

"She's so thin..." Josh said. 

"This moment is so critical. You must hurry." 

He nodded, and stepped forward. 

Jennessa succeeded in yanking the tube out, gagging on it as it came up, feeling it every inch of the way out. Once it was out, she gulped air, and gasped at the sudden pain of muscles tightening that she didn't even know she had. 

"She's gone into labor!" Esther Eastland said the same moment as the nurse, wh was now looking at the monitor, said: "She's having contractions!" 

"She's two months early!" Ruth said. 

Kathleen looked at Esther, then over at Andrew, standing quietly behind the nurses and doctors. From there, he could see Jennessa clearly, and Kathleen could see the shadows in his features. 

'Kathleen.' 

Kathleen inhaled deeply, savoring the soft, gentle, and loving voice that touched her soul. 

'When you're done here, I have another assignment for you.' 

Somehow, she knew, at some level, what that assignment would be. 

"She's not strong enough to deliver this baby. It's going to be a C-section. Notify obstetrics." He prepared a needle. "Hold her down!" he ordered, moving to Jennessa's bed side. 

"No!" Jennessa muttered, hammering with her free hand at the hands and arms holding her down. 

The doctor grabbed that arm when it was swung at him, and injected the sedative. 

Kathleen looked over at Carl, he turned from exiting the room, feeling her eyes on him. 

Nodding to his fellow angel, he turned her gaze to the trio at the back of the room. 

"Hello, Esther." the third member of that group said, "My name's Irene. I will be taking you Home." the Angel of Death said as she approached the woman who'd become her assignment. 

"Andrew..." 

"...has been released from that responsibility." 

Andrew stared vacantly at the spot where Jennessa's hospital bed had been moments ago. The Light faded from around him, and he left the room. 

Kathleen appeared beside Carl in the operating room. Instantly, she was surrounded by the same Love that shown about the Angel of Death. 

"You'd better hurry, Kathleen." 

Her attention was already focused on Jennessa and Josh. She walked around the anaesthesiologist. She looked up momentarily at the screen showing the progress of the C-section, then back down at Jennessa, searching her features. 

"Jennessa." 

Kathleen looked up, startled. 

Esther Eastland stood beside her great-granddaughter's bedside, stroking a damp lock of hair off the teenager's forehead. "I love you. You don't have much time sweatie. You just need to relax now and let the doctors do their work." 

"Esther." Irene called. 

"I have to go now. I'll see you back Home." She kissed Jennessa's cheek, and went to stand beside Irene. "What's going to happen to Andrew?" she asked. 

Irene wished she knew how to answer. She'd had these times herself, every angel did... "There are things God wants him to learn." she said, walking into the Light with her charge, "Angels, like humans, learn by experiencing opposition." She looked back over her shoulder, the earth not to far yet behind them, and saw a dark form, unseen by Andrew, hovering close by, walking right behind him. The darkness surrounding this Kathleen was in complete opposition to the light of God's love that surrounded the Angel of Birth on God's errand at this moment. 

"Jennessa." Kathleen tucked blonde hair behind each ear and leaned forward a bit, hands resting on the operating table as she looked for any response in the young girl's features. "Jennessa, open your eyes." 

It was a struggle, but she managed to open them. 

"How's she doing?" the surgeon asked. 

The anesthesiologist turned back from her machines. "She's sound asleep." 

"Are you the angel of death?" 

"No, but he's here, and I am an angel. My name's Kathleen. I'm an Angel of Birth. I brought your son Josh here. He will be born soon, Jennessa." 

"You're beautiful." 

"I died for beauty, starving myself to be thin. Jennessa, you take your habits and everything you've learned with you when you die. If you've taught your body to not tolerate food, or to purge food, you will still have those urges after you die." 

Jennessa turned away, not wanting to listen. 

"Look at me, Jennessa. I'm a recovering anorexic and bulimic." 

Jennessa refused to turn back, and Kathleen disappeared, reappearing where she would be seen, minus the flowing white gown she'd worn over her body suit moments ago. 

Tears began to run from Kathleen's eyes as Jennessa saw her, really saw her, for the first time. 

"I'm an angel sent by God to tell you that He loves you. God loves you Jennessa, not for how you see yourself, but for how He sees you; as His child." 

"Does God love you?" 

Kathleen felt an unmistakable warmth touch her heart. 

"Yes, God loves me, too, and He's helping me heal. He'll help you to heal, too, Jennessa." She looked up, feeling a hand on her shoulder. 

Carl helped her to her feet from the squatting position she'd been in so as to be on eye-level with Jennessa. Once again, she wore the flowing white gown. 

"This is Carl." 

"We have a boy!" the surgeon announced, quickly, yet gently, passing the bony infant to the neo-natal intensive care nurses. "Nurse, close up the patient." 

"Hello, Jennessa." 

"You're an angel, too?" 

"I'm the Angel of Death." 

"Can I see my baby?" she asked, her breathing getting more shallow by the moment. 

"It's time, Jennessa." 

"Time...for...what?" 

"To go Home." 

Monica found Ruth in the hospital chapel, to tired to stay awake, to grief stricken and worried to fall asleep. "Coffee, black." she said, sitting down beside the exhausted woman, and holding the cup out. 

"Thanks." She took a sip. "What time is it?" 

"Two fifteen in the morning." 

"How's Jennessa? The baby?" 

"Josh is in the neo-natal intensive care unit." 

"Jennessa? What about my daughter?" 

"Jennessa died shortly after. Your grandson needs you now, Ruth." 

"My daughter...not my daughter..." 

"She gave you a beautiful grandson. Joshua is a little miracle. Jennessa never got to hold him, but I believe she held him in her heart. Joshua is so newly from Heaven where he was held in Gods arms, was given to your daughter, and now he is being given to you." 

Kathleen appeared by the piano, God's love surrounding her and the tiny infant in her arms. Any other baby in the same condition couldn't survive outside his basinet in the Neo-Natal ICU, but Joshua Anderson was cradled in the arms of an angel cradled in God's love herself. Kathleen sniffled back tears of joy as she hummed to little Joshua. 

Ruth looked up, and froze in place for a moment, till understanding dawned. Kathleen, the hospital nutritionist, was an angel, and the baby... 

"Monica, was that...?" 

"Yes, they were here for a moment." She whispered: "Joshua's back in the neo-natal ICU." 

"Thanks for the coffee." Ruth said, taking one more sip before, graciously handing it back to Monica and hurrying out of the chapel. 

"I'll take that." Tess said, taking the coffee with one hand, and putting an arm around her Angel Baby. 

Monica had thought they were done here, but as she'd been standing with Tess in the hospital's chapel, she'd had a feeling that Ruth still needed her. 

She found her in the neo-natal ICU one gloved hand, finger extended, finger resting on her grandson's tiny chest, feeling his heartbeat. Her other hand wiped away a tear. 

"Such a precious, helpless wee one. A message from God." 

Ruth sniffed. "What message?" 

"Esther and Jennessa have returned Home, and He has sent one of His precious little children into your care. One of the many ways God has of saying 'I love you!'." 

"Does He? The last two people I had left are gone." 

"You have Josh, who, only a little while ago, was cradled in God's arms." Monica said, wanting so much to tell Ruth just how much she was loved. 

"God put His precious child into my arms." Kathleen said, coming forward from where she'd been quietly observing. God's love settled about her as she looked lovingly at the sleeping little infant, tubes and monitoring equipment just about covering him completely. 

"I am an Angel of Birth, Ruth. Every soul comes from a very loving Father. Before we left His presence, He kissed Josh on the cheek." 

Ruth gently turned Josh's head, and on his cheek was a birthmark that looked unmistakably like this fragile little boy had just been kissed. 

"God loves every one of His children, Ruth, weather they've lived hours or years. He loves them when they return to Him when they're teens, or even if they've lived to be 96 years old." Kathleen had walked around to be beside Ruth, and now squatted down to be on eye-level with her. "He loves you, Ruth, and He'll never stop loving you." 

"Never." Monica emphasized, also surrounded in God's love. 

Ruth placed a finger on Josh's little chest, feeling the miracle of that little heartbeat, and started humming softly. 

Two angels vanished from the room, meeting Tess on the other side of a certain little foot bridge near a certain nursing home, Kathleen humming the tune that Ruth had been humming. 

"What's that song called?" Monica asked, finding her own place of peace in the melody. 

"I don't remember the name of it," Kathleen replied, "I only remember the particular phrase." She hummed the phrase once again. "I'll love you forever, I'll love you for always, my baby you'll always be." 

"That's beautiful." 

A dove flew from out of the trees, over the nursing home, and beyond the hospital across the street. 

Epilogue   
  


Kathleen felt warm all over, and loved. She'd still been humming the same tune when she returned Home, and God had whispered a variation on it to her soul. 

'I'll love you forever, I'll love you for always, my angel you'll always be.' 

Michaela looked at her young charge, and couldn't help smiling. "The Father assigns me a new angel, and the first thing He does is say that He, too, has an assignment for her. Excellent work, Kathleen. Now, if He weren't keeping you as busy as a puppy chasing it's tail, I'd get you put in fully as an Angel of Birth. But it seems He has other plans for you." Michaela's eyes twinkled. 

'Come, Kathleen.' 

"God grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change." Michaela said, waiting. 

'I haven't known you to be impatient, Michaela.' 

She smiled, feeling God's loving touch as she turned to her tasks. 

'Father, is it Andrew?' 

'Rest, my little one.' 

It felt like she'd been here for a long, long time, looking out at the earth, learning of her assignment. She saw what that dark angel was doing. The only similarity was her name: Kathleen. She was good at what she did, only telling enough truth to get Andrew to listen. 

"Half truths are not from God!" Kathleen murmured. "Andrew, why can't you see the lies?" 

'Evil has blinded his eyes. Go. He needs you.' 

Kathleen appeared in the small hospital room, remaining unseen. She gasped at the sight of Andrew, pale, and almost skeletal, lying asleep in the hospital bed. Monica sat with him. 

'How long was I with the Father?!' she asked, not really expecting an answer, just needing it said. 

Her namesake, the angel of evil, came into the room. 

"We have NOTHING in common." she said, as the dark angel spoke in a voice full of deceit. 

She had Andrew right where she wanted him, and told him what he wanted to ear. "There is only one way you can find peace, Andrew." 

Kathleen walked over and sat by Andrew, on the other side of the bed. She, too, had that reassuring tone in her voice as she spoke, but she also had truth, and God, on her side. 

"There IS only one way you can find peace, Andrew." 

Monica pulled Andrew into a hug, weeping for her friend. 

Kathleen looked up, seeing the other unseen angel, in all her evil mirth, laughing at the sight. Her own expression was grim, but she put all her trust in God, only He and Andrew knew she was here. 

Evil was getting its grip on Andrew's, all to human, neck. 

'Trust again, Andrew!' 

"My name is Kathleen. I need you to trust me when I tell you that you are loved." 

Andrew's head slumped to the side, and evil ran from the room, tears streaking her cheeks. 

Time slowed till any advancement was barely noticeable, and Andrew sat up. 

"Are you here to take me Home?" 

"You aren't dead, Andrew." 

"No! I want to die!" 

"Andrew." She waited patiently till his frustration settled. At that moment, it was as if the hospital room vanished from around them, replaced by a beautiful plateau, forested mountains rising above them in the distance. 

"Angels cannot die, Andrew." 

"Angel?" 

Kathleen sighed inwardly. It was as the Father had taught her. The moment Andrew had walked away from Esther Eastland and his assignment in Jennessa's hospital room, he had become human, forgetting his nature, not trusting in God. Evil had gotten a foothold. But the fact had remained, though he was stuck in Human form, he was still an angel. 

"An Angel, Andrew." She felt that sink in for a moment. He had just forgotten. "There is only one way you can find peace." She could see him thinking. "I am an Angel, sent by God." His love settled about her, glowing brighter than any earthly light. 

"He knows the burdens you are carrying, Andrew, and he'll help you carry them if you'll only trust Him." She looked at her loose flowing dress, spun in Heaven. "You once called me Kat." 

Memories flooded his mind, images of a young wife, barely skin and bones, struggling against her husband holding her down, furious at him and the doctor who was trying to inject sedative into an I.V., just as she yanked an arm free from the other doctor--Andrew. With that arm, she grabbed the I.V. tube and pulled the needle from her arm. Next, she went after the feeding tube, gagging on it as it came up, and dying in the process. 

"I never meant to hurt you, Andrew. That wasn't the end. I'm here, right now. Life goes on, Andrew!" She had his attention now, and hope surged within her. "Everything you teach your body, to reject food, or to constantly demand it, you take with you. I'm still fighting with the bulimia and anorexia I taught myself before you brought me Home, but I will heal. So will you. I never meant to hurt you, my friend. I love you. God loves you. In Him, you can find peace. He is the way, the only way." She wiped tears from her eyes, saw the tears in Andrew's eyes. 

"Trust Him, Andrew. God loves you, and He'll never stop loving you." 

"Kat..." 

Kathleen embraced him, raising a silent thank you to the heavens. 


End file.
